


Fashionably Late

by Impossiblysmart



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged Up, Awkward, F/M, Fashion Week, Post Reveal, Swearing, adrienette - Freeform, gabriel is better in this, internet rumors, like in general. better, media messes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 13:03:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6611626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impossiblysmart/pseuds/Impossiblysmart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Fashion Week with best friends Mari and Adrien.<br/>(basically everyone else thinks they are dating but they aren't.) (yet).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fashionably Late

The reveal had been… unexpected.  
It was two weeks before summer, Adrien had learned from his father that he would be headed to New York for one month immediately after school.  
Marinette on the other hand was invited to spend a month in China with her relatives.  
Honestly, the reveal itself was an accident. Both of them had gotten caught up worrying about the first month of summer, when both of them would be on opposites sides of Europe. Cat Noir and Ladybug can’t go missing at the same time. All of a sudden, their transformations ended and they stared at each other for a good 5 minutes before rushing away. 

The longer Marinette thought about Adrien and Cat Noir being one in the same, the more she couldn’t see it. 

The longer Adrien thought about Marinette and Ladybug being one in the same, the more he could. 

They both felt stupid. For the same yet completely different reasons. Marinette finally realized how little she knew about Adrien or Cat Noir the more guilty she felt. She thought she knew Adrien, she had his face plastered on her walls, his schedule in her ceiling. She didn’t know anything. As for Cat Noir, ugh, it explained why he was so skinny and hungry. She immediately felt bad about not bringing him the entire bakery. God, she was an idiot. 

Adrien thought he must have been blind. Of course, of course it’s Marinette. His guilt lay in the fact that he didn’t even consider Ladybug and Marinette. Not even once. Now that the answer was right in front of him, screaming his name, it was obvious. But previously, the only Marinette he noticed was the one that blushed at every look from him and stuttered at every word. He had completely forgotten about the Marinette that stood up to Chloe on the regular, or ran for class president, or took lead whenever an akuma appeared. That one made more sense now. He didn’t deserve either of them. God, he was an idiot. 

They needed time. To think, mostly. This reveal, ugh, couldn’t have happened at a worse time, but whether you see it as a good or bad thing, both would be leaving in a couple weeks. For a month. 

In the mean time, there was approximately 336 hours to avoid each other (as LB and CN or otherwise). Alya and Nino were caught in their unfortunate crossfire. 

“Babe, you wanna explain why are walking away from my boyfriend and your future boyfriend?” Alya said, confused as Marinette grabbed her arm before pulling her in the opposite direction.  
“Sorry, uh, you can go, I just... “ She let go of her friends arm, rubbing the back of her head anxiously.  
“Awww! You wanna eat with me before you are gone for a month?”  
“Yes.” Mari sighed in relief. 

“In that case, ADRIEN NINO GET OVER HERE.“  
“Alya!”  
“Adrien’s leaving for a month, too. Come on. The four of us! It’ll be fun.”

The lunch was filled with a lot of Nino and Alya talk and Mari and Adrien glancing at each other awkwardly every five minutes. If they thought the distance between them went unnoticed, they were wrong.  
“Mari, come with me to the bathroom, will ya?”  
She went quickly, eager to get away from the table.  
“What the HELL is up with you and Agreste? He hasn’t talked to you, you haven’t stuttered or blushed and now BOTH of you are acting sketchy!”  
“Maybe he knows I like him and he’s uncomfortable now because he doesn’t like me back?” Mari asked this simply, like it was the best case scenario, which honestly, it was.  
“Girl, you know that’s not it. Man, it's like the tables have turned and he’s blushing at you.”  
Marinette didn’t speak. Ok, so maybe the best case scenario involved both of them loving each other and a lot of kisses and hugs and hamsters and three kids named Louis, Emma and Hugo and rainbows and sunshine, but that’s not how life works. She knew Adrien was disappointed. Man, she wasn’t even sure how she felt about Cat Noir. Ugh, this was a mess. 

“Soooo, what’s up with you and Mari?”  
“Huh? W-what are talking about, man?”  
“Oh please, you’re transparent. I know you, Mari and Alya like I know my playlist, and that’s saying something. You and Mari are acting stranger than usual. Alya dragged Mari to the bathroom to interrogate her and she’d kill me if I didn’t question you. Although, to be honest, I’m curious myself. Anyway, just your answer to that question showed me something is up so… what happened?”  
WHAT HAPPENED. Adrien screamed in his head, taking a long sip of water. Oh, YOU KNOW. Just the love of my life ended up SITTING BEHIND ME IN CLASS EVERYDAY. AND I NEVER NOTICED AND NOW I FEEL LIKE HOW CAN I SAY I LOVED HER AT ALL WHEN I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW SHE WAS RIGHT THERE. THE WHOLE TIME. OH GOD. WHAT IF WE CAN’T BE FRIENDS AFTER THIS. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE ENDED UP HAVING TO NEVER SPEAK AGAIN. MARI’S KNOWN NINO LONGER AND IS BEST FRIENDS WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND. I’D HAVE TO LEAVE. NOT ONLY WOULD I LOSE LADYBUG AND MARI BUT NINO AND ALYA TOO. I CAN’T DEAL WITH THAT. FUCK, MARI, WHAT DO WE DO. ugh this a mess.  
“Nothing happened, Nino. I swear.” he lied.  
“Hmm, I believe you. A little. Mostly because I know it’s none of my business anyway. But I am worried. I probably always will be, to be honest.”  
The weeks that followed, Adrien and Mari spoke only to prove that nothing was wrong, and failed miserably. Having the other around everyday was like a constant reminder of their mistakes.  
When they finally left, Alya and Nino saw off Marinette. Alya hugged Mari tightly, whispering “I’ll miss you” into each other’s ears. Nino hugged her for a second. Adrien had left in at four in the morning, secretly, as per usual with his father. Marinette was grateful for the lack of awkward, but strangely missed his presence. 

Marinette missed him. Too much. She missed her stupid kitty and being called bugaboo and the constant flirting. Her month in China started off fantastic but everywhere she turned something reminded her of Cat Noir. Of Adrien, she reminded herself. Adrien spoke Chinese, god, every word that came out of their mouths reminded her of how she royally fucked up. She thought the month away would be good for her thoughts, but the longer she was away the more she just wanted to the him purr out a pun or something he thought was suave but was just dorky. No, it hadn’t escaped her how every flirt Cat Noir had ever said was actually Adrien. She decided to really not think about that now. This time spent away from her best friend. Her partner. She thought at first that maybe knowing Adrien was Cat Noir would throw her off Adrien. Nope.It made everything worse. Fuck she missed him more than she missed Alya. At least Alya texted her. God, she didn’t even have his phone number. 

Adrien officially hated New York. Not that New York wasn’t wonderful. It was beautiful in it’s own special way. He took lots of pictures that could only be described as hipster. There were lots of photos of people on the street, buildings, city life. He had to admit, New York street style was fantastic. He would have to show these pictures to Marinette for some inspiration.  
Marinette. That was why he hated New York. Marinette would have gotten inspiration from everything. But Marinette, Ladybug, was thousands of miles away. By god, she made a pigeon hat, certainly she’d grab something from the streets of Manhattan. He vowed to take pictures of everything, so that not one idea would be missed. Adrien was surprised at how glad his father was at his interest in photography. It was something that clung to the modelling business one way or another, he figured. This month was going to a long one without Marinette or Ladybug by his side. God, he didn’t have her phone number. 

Nino met Adrien at the gate. His father had to stay behind for a few extra days, so he flew back by himself. Not that he was complaining. He scrolled through his photos, smiling at the thought of Marinette looking through making sketches. And finding at the gate standing next to Gorilla, his friend Nino holding the Agreste sign (also wearing a chauffeur hat that was much too big for him), made him laugh.  
In the car Adrien asked more questions than Nino, “Alya?”  
“She went to pick up Marinette with her parents,” Nino looked at him cautiously at the mention of Marinette, not sure if the name still held something.  
“So what did you two do while we were gone?” Adrien smiled at Nino.  
“What do you want me to say, Agreste? Each other?” the DJ laughed, “Naw, we just went on a few dates. We did make out a fuckton though.” drawing out laughter from the blond.

Adrien didn’t even notice that had driven right passed his house until they pulled up to a familiar bakery. He shot Nino a questioning look.  
“Oh yeah! Alya wanted to me up for lunch quick.”  
“I thought you said she was picking up Marinette?” He crossed his arms.  
“Yeahhhhh, Mari’s flight got in yesterday. A tiny white lie.”  
“Alright! Let’s go!” Adrien got out of the car quickly. Apparently this surprised Nino, his mouth agape in the car watching Adrien almost skip up to the door. Adrien really needed to see her. This month apart had been like getting him addicted to a drug for one day and then being forced without it. He was on Mari withdrawal.  
He walked in casually, resisting the urge to tackle Marinette with a hug. She was wearing a pink apron with the design of the bakery. Her pigtails had tiny speckles of flour in them. He noticed Marinette’s eyes light up when he walked in.  
“Adrien!” Alya ran up for her hug.  
“Alya! Gotten anything for the Ladyblog, lately? Normally I check it, but America kept me busy.” Marinette definitely heard him, because she looked at him like they shared an inside joke, which they did.  
“No worries, blondie. They were so fucking dormant. Not one sighting. NOT ONE.” Adrien couldn’t help but chuckle. I wonder why?  
“I’ll go get your presents from upstairs. We missed you two a lot.” Alya ran up to Mari’s room. 

Now alone, Adrien and Marinette stared at each other, a small smile playing at Adrien’s lips. A total Cat Noir move. In a flurry, Marinette took her apron off and ran to Adrien, wrapping her arms around his waist.  
“I missed you, you stupid cat.” Her cheek pressed against his chest.  
“I missed you so much, bugaboo.” He wrapped his arms around her too, pulling her in tightly and pressing his mouth into her head.


End file.
